Fixed Asset
Dante
The house Drew bought from his parents is a large brick walkup.
We decided to go to the house and figure out what we need before returning to our apartments to sort out our furniture.
What will come with and what we’ll leave behind until we need to move it into storage.
We’re not sure if we’ll be moving all four beds, five including Drew’s.
For now, we plan on moving in and worrying about the other apartments later.
We don’t know how long we’ll be staying here.
Sara’s safety is our highest priority. So until we’re confident she’s safe, we’ll stick close together.
Drew’s showing Tom and Natasha their apartment and Sara wanted to see it, so she went with. Finn, Wyatt, and I stand in the foyer, waiting.
Somehow, it’s wrong to explore this house without Sara. This isn’t just a new space to live in, but a potential home for all of us. It’s empty of furniture, but from what we can see from the foyer, it’s larger than Sara’s parents’ house.
“Three floors?” Wyatt glances up the stairway, taking his attention away from the listing on his phone. “Plus the downstairs apartment makes four? The top floor is where the children’s rooms are.”
Finn raises an eyebrow at Wyatt. “Planning on making a few of those?”
I glance over at them with interest. We haven’t really discussed children.
It hasn’t been part of our plan. I’m sure once one of us got married it would have been a topic of conversation, but there’s never been anyone we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with, let alone have children with. Not before Sara.
“Sara wants them. Someday.” Wyatt rubs his fingers over his lips. “I wouldn’t mind a pregnant Sara.”
The image isn’t hard to conjure. That’s where this is headed, right? We all want to stay together. At some point there will be children. Sara’s always wanted children.
“I don’t know how any of us will make good fathers.” Finn shakes his head. “It’s not like we had a good father to look up to.”
“We did.” Wyatt clears his throat. “We had Sara and Tom’s dad. He’s the kind of father we should be. Roger’s a good guy too.”
My gaze goes to the door. Speaking of Roger. “When are we going to tell Roger and Bitsy about this?”
“We’ll probably need to be there when Sara tells them,” Finn says.
They’re still overseas, but they’ll come back.
The problem is, none of us wants to disappoint Bitsy.
She gave us a home growing up. Tough love and a motherly affection none of us really had.
Wyatt and I had moms, but Wyatt’s had other priorities and mine was doing the best she could with the hand she was dealt.
Finn and Wyatt look down at the marble floor. That’s one conversation I’m not looking forward to. We’ve always taken care of Sara, but we’ve also taken care of Bitsy. Especially when Tom was being a dick during our teenage years.
She’s more our mother than our birth mothers.
“What if she isn’t accepting of this relationship?” Finn asks the question weighing on all of us.
Yet another reason we never moved on Sara was that her mother is our rock. None of us wanted to lose her or Tom or Sara. They’re our family. It would have crushed us. But we’re past that now. Sara is ours.
“She’ll come around,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. I’ll do anything for Sara, except leave her. No, Sara’s ours and Bitsy will see we’re the right choice for her daughter. That together we can love a woman like Sara the way she needs to be loved.
Drew and Sara come up the stairs, hand in hand.
“What did you think, pip?”
Sara smiles and glances at Drew. Her green eyes sparkle with happiness. “It’s a really nice apartment. Natasha was feeling a little tired, so Tom said they’d explore the upper floors later.”
“I asked my parents to leave the furniture down there, since it was mine.” Drew releases her hand and she comes over to me and wraps her arms around my waist.
I rub a hand down her back. All this is happening so quickly. I’m worried about the size of this house. Bigger and more spread out might not be better right now. In the future, when we need our space, it will be a must. But right now...
Yes, the estate was huge, but it was in the middle of nowhere. That made it easy to see if someone was approaching. This house is massive. Too many points of entry.
“Security system?” I ask.
Drew nods. “I’m having them switch it over to my company name, but it’s the same one my parents used. Similar to the one installed at Sara’s.”
Which we know Peter’s men know how to get around. Fuck.
“My dad has men on the house.” Finn claps his hand on my shoulder. “If you want, we can put a tracker in Sara.”
Sara opens her mouth. Maybe to protest, but then she thinks about it. “Maybe not in me?”
Wyatt steps forward, already typing something on his phone. “I’ve heard of jewelry that has GPS tracking in it.”
“I like jewelry.” Sara’s smile returns. But as her eyes scan the empty rooms beyond the foyer, it slips a little at the vastness of the house. “How are we going to fill this place?”
Drew steps close to her and holds her against his side, leading her to the left. We all turn to follow. “My parents have some things in storage we can use, but if you want, I’ll give you my card and you can go nuts shopping.”
“I do need an excuse to hang out with my friends.” Sara glances back and meets my eyes.
“As long as one of us goes with you.” I nod at her.
She grins and Drew leads us through the kitchen. The dining room. The family room. The living room. An office that’s big enough for at least two desks.
The doorbell rings and we all pause. We stand in the entryway about to head upstairs.
“It is our house,” Sara says and starts toward the front door.
Finn grabs her waist and pulls her back against him. “Not so fast, flower.”
“Hey,” she says.
I move to the door with Wyatt beside me.
“We need to take precautions.” Finn’s voice is soft, but he’s right. We don’t know who knows we’re here. Hopefully it’s just Tanya with Peabody.
When I open the door, Tanya lifts her head to look up at me. She smiles and holds Peabody’s wiggling body toward me.
“I am so glad you’re back.” She sighs. “He missed his people.”
Peabody barks as I take him. As soon as he’s close enough, he licks my face.
“Thank you for keeping him so long.” Sara squeezes between Wyatt and me, and Peabody leaps toward her from my arms. She catches him with a laugh. “I missed you too.”
“It was no problem.” Tanya steps back. “I’ve got to go, but if you need me to walk him...”
“I’ll text you my schedule.” Sara moves back and sets Peabody down. Tanya waves goodbye and I close the door behind her.
Peabody runs over to Drew and jumps up on his leg.
“What can I say? We’re friends for life.” Drew picks Peabody up and holds him. He sniffs Finn and then turns to look at Wyatt. A low growl rumbles in his throat.
“I see absence hasn’t made the heart fonder.” I chuckle as I pass Wyatt.
“Fuck off,” he says. “Quiet, furball.”
We head up to the second floor where the primary is.
“If we need to do renovations, we can. I know a guy.” Drew pushes open the double doors and puts Peabody down on the wood floor.
I step up behind Sara and wrap my arms around her waist, resting my chin on her head. “What do you think, pip?”
“It’s a large room, plenty big enough for your new bed.” She tips her head to look up at me with a playful smile. “What do you think, boss? Are we all going to sleep together or is this going to be a multiple-bed situation?”
“We should all sleep together.” Finn opens the door to the closet.
“You just want to fuck her in her sleep,” Wyatt says, shaking his head.
A little shiver goes through Sara.
“It’s easier than picking your lock.” Finn comes out of the closet and winks at Sara. “A handy skill to have since Wyatt doesn’t like to share.”
“Wyatt’s good with sharing.” Drew stops next to Wyatt and bumps his shoulder against him. “Isn’t that right, fuck buddy?”
Wyatt closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Seriously? Is this like a reality show? Can we vote someone off the island?”
Sara fake gasps. “Absolutely not.”
While Sara might love sleeping with all of us, I can see some issues arising if we don’t have space away from each other too. We’re definitely not used to sharing.
“Maybe we go ahead and set up bedrooms for each of us. It’s not like we don’t have the room.” I rub Sara’s arm when she makes a disappointed noise. “We’re still adjusting to each other.”
“But we did so well at the other house.” Sara looks up at me with those sad green eyes.
I’ve never been the sucker for those. “We just got you back. Maybe we’ll all still end up in here, but we should have the option.”
I glance at Drew and Wyatt standing in the doorway to the bathroom, bickering like an old married couple. Sara takes a deep breath.
“Point taken, but I still don’t like it.” She snuggles into me.
“Until you’re safe, pip, we’ll stay together. Okay?”
She nods and grabs my hand. “Let’s get this tour finished so we can move in.”
The bathroom has a large shower and separate tub. It’s only a double vanity, but it has a separate water closet, which is nice. It has two walk-in closets that are massive. More than enough to share if we also have our own rooms to keep our stuff in.
There are two guest bedrooms on this floor with a shared hallway bathroom. And upstairs has a massive loft area.
“This might work as a home office.” Wyatt stands by a window that looks out over the street.
“It could be a second living room.” Sara touches his back.
He wraps his arm around her waist and draws her against him. “It would be nice to not have to worry about your brother needing a midnight snack and accidentally catching you serving your masters.”
She looks up at him in horror. “That’s not even funny, Wyatt Hawkins.”
“It would serve him right, trouble.” He leans down and kisses her forehead and turns to Drew. “Is there a gym in this place or somewhere we can box?”
Drew comes out of one of the four rooms on this level. “It’s on the lower level outside of the apartment. My parents didn’t use it much so it was mostly mine. If you want to put work-out equipment in it, we’ll have to get some. There’s a gym not too far from here though.”
“You called the movers already?” I ask Drew.
He glances at his phone for the time. “They should be arriving at your place to start packing after they finish up with mine. Then the truck will show up with more people to move the boxes and furniture. By tonight we should be all unpacked.”
I grunt. That sounds way too optimistic.
Sara
After I pack my suitcase, I come in and sit on Wyatt’s bed as he finishes getting what he doesn’t want the movers to pack. When he pulls out the case of stone dildos I found when I snooped in his room, I clear my throat. He sets them on the bed beside me with a raised eyebrow.
He glances at me while he fills a suitcase with the lube and other things in the drawer that maybe he should be the only one touching.
I put my hand on the wooden case. “So what are these for?”
He smirks. “I imagine you know what they’re for by now, trouble.”
My cheeks heat. “I meant, do you use these?”
“Looking for a demonstration?”
My mouth opens and closes, considering.
He finishes emptying the drawer and sits on the bed between me and the case. He lifts it onto his lap and opens it to reveal the beautiful stones within.
“I got these at a store a few years ago.” He lifts the jade one and holds it out to me.
I take it and feel the weight and coolness of the stone. “It’s heavier than I thought it would be.”
“They work well for temperature play. Making them hot or cold before using them. And the weight can be nice too.”
My cheeks flush, and even knowing they’ve been cleaned, I don’t know if I want something that he’s used on another woman. I push it back at him.
“What?” he asks with an arched eyebrow.
“Nothing. They’re very pretty.” I unconsciously wipe my hand on my jeans.
“They are.” He looks at the stone in his hand before returning it to its spot in the case. “It’s a shame I haven’t had a chance to use them.”
“You haven’t?” I straighten.
He smiles and cups my jaw, tilting my head just so. “We don’t have time, trouble, or we could play with them. Later.”
He leans in and kisses me, taking a few minutes to make sure I’m heated and ready to climb on his lap before he pulls away.
I lick his taste from my lips as he stands to finish packing. My gaze strays to the case.
“Tonight?”
He turns and I smile at him. He shakes his head.
“If you’re not too tired, maybe, trouble.”